FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) — Extreme heat is not just making for hotter days, it’s also hurting crops across the central valley.

A Fresno farmer is facing a major loss after temperatures soared at the worst time possible for pistachios, during bloom season.

“We experienced days that were 90 degrees and above here in this particular orchard during the bloom period. We’ve never experienced that before,” said Richard Matoian, the Vice President of Matoian Brothers.

Matoian says its typically 70 degrees during bloom period.

He says the extreme heat hit during a critical seven-day window , when his trees were in peak bloom.

“We were in bloom March 19th through about the 26th. That was about peak bloom. And that coincidentally was the highest temperatures recorded during the month of March,” said Matoian.

And because of the high heat:

“You can have the pollen from the male trees not be viable or not be viable for a very long period of time. And then separately, you have the female parts of the, and then separately, you have the female trees that are receptive to the pollen and they were under a lot of stress and really withered away under the extreme heat that we had,” said Matoian.

The result?

A potential 30 to 70 percent loss for pistachio growers across Fresno County.

Pistachios are the county’s third-most valuable crop, worth nearly 859 million dollars in 2024, according to the county’s most recent agricultural report.

For Matoian, this year’s losses are hard to ignore.

“Our hope and goal was to have about 1,500 pounds per acre. And we’re lucky if we’re going to get 50 pounds per acre on these trees,” said Matoian.

Now, his 40 acres are at a loss.

“Economically the cost to bring in a harvester to harvest these trees with what we have on them now would be much more than what we would get back in actual production. So we’re not going to harvest,” said Matoian.

Matoian started planting pistachios in 2020.

He says if this continues next year:

“It could just be a devastation. And at some point buyers are going to say, you’re not a reliable supplier, we’re going to have to look elsewhere,” said Matoian.

Crop insurance is available and could help in these situations but the insurance does not begin to cover until the 10th year of production.

Matoian is on his 7th year so the losses are coming out of pocket.

Crop insurance is available and could help in these situations but the insurance does not begin to cover until the 10th year of production.

Matoian is on his 7th year so the losses are coming out of pocket.